RE: Shazam! You're a marketing writer!

["Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>]

I would never write, "Due to an oversight, there is no way to delete
files." The first half of the sentence is useless information.

The reader doesn't care why. The reader wants to know *how* -- in this
case, how to delete files, and the answer is: Buy the AFMT.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Neilson
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 8:39 AM
> To: Dan Goldstein
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Shazam! You're a marketing writer!
> 
> Never had to persuade the reader that the observed design 
> error is really a feature? Like maybe this:
> 
> "To prevent accidental loss of your work, files can only be 
> deleted through the Administrator's File Management Tool, 
> available separately."
> 
> When I started in tech writing, I would have written, "Due to 
> an oversight there is no way to delete files." I soon learned 
> we couldn't say that.
> 

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